


Collecting Smiles

by exuberant_imperfection, kate882



Series: Hopeless Idiots in Love [1]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Tumblr Prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-27 07:52:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5040175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exuberant_imperfection/pseuds/exuberant_imperfection, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate882/pseuds/kate882
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Imagine that for some reason or another, person A doesn’t get to see B smile very often (whether it’s because they live apart, or B just isn’t usually a smiling person). A decides to start “collecting” B’s smiles by kissing them when they do. Bonus: A doesn’t tell them before doing it the first time.</p><blockquote>
  <p><br/>And with Tetsu smiling, it was all completely worth it. Aomine grinned and leaned down to give him a kiss that lasted just long enough to piss Kagami off, but just short enough not to piss Tetsu off… hopefully.</p>
  <p>"You guys know you're in public, right? With people," Kagami said loudly, causing Kuroko to jump slightly and pull away with a blush. </p>
  <p>"I don't mind," Kise volunteered.<br/></p>
</blockquote>
            </blockquote>





	Collecting Smiles

**Author's Note:**

> http://otpprompts.tumblr.com/post/129319866666/imagine-that-for-some-reason-or-another-person-a

Aomine walked into Maji Burger and looked around once briefly before spotting Tetsu at their usual table… with Kagami. He scowled and started walking over, and was about to call out to them, but then Kagami said something that must have been funny, because Tetsu actually _laughed out loud_ and smiled widely. The sight froze Aomine in his tracks, a grin stretching across his face—he always loved the way Tetsu looked when he smiled, like he was glowing with happiness. But it happened so rarely that it would catch Aomine off-guard every time.

So, instead of making a grand angry entrance in which he told Kagami to fuck off, he was just wearing that huge, dumb grin on his face when Tetsu noticed him.

Kuroko looked over his shoulder and offered Aomine a tiny smile. “Hello, Aomine-kun. I ran into Kagami-kun on the way here,” Kuroko told him, scooting over to make room for Aomine.

“Yeah. I see that,” Aomine said, his face having fallen back into a scowl as he slid into the booth next to Tetsu, putting an arm around his shoulders and glaring at Kagami.

Kuroko looked up at Aomine with a disapproving frown for the rudeness. “I was wondering if you would mind him joining us.”

“Uh. Yeah, kinda,” Aomine said, rolling his eyes. “I don’t remember asking your pet dog here to go on a date.”

Kuroko’s eyes narrowed at Aomine, but he was cut off from saying anything by Kagami.

Kagami, whose expression had become vaguely guarded the moment Aomine joined them, scowled and snapped at him, “Shut the hell up, asshole.”

Kuroko glanced at Kagami, but quickly returned his attention to Aomine. “If you keep insulting my friends this will no longer be a date because I will be leaving with said friend.”

Aomine’s face softened to a frown as he looked back down at Tetsu. “I didn’t come here to see him, I came to see you,” he grumbled under his breath.

“That doesn’t mean that you have to be so rude to him. Apologize,” Kuroko said flatly, making steady eye contact.

The longer Aomine met his gaze, the easier he found it to pretend Kagami wasn’t there. He spoke softly, only to Tetsu. “If I do… will you smile for me?”

Kuroko arched an eyebrow. “What kind of currency is that?”

“The best kind,” Aomine said with a small, crooked grin.

Kagami could very much hear every word they were saying, and had been trying to stay quiet, but at that last cheesy line, he couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter.

The smile faded from Aomine’s face and was replaced by irritation. “You know what? I’m sorry, I really am,” he said, with mock-sincerity at first, then dropped it to deadpan, “Sorry that you were born, that is.”

Kuroko glared before shoving Aomine out of the booth to the floor and stepping over him. “Come on, Kagami-kun. I want to play one-on-one,” he said, walking towards the door without looking back at Aomine.

“Sounds good to me,” Kagami said, glaring at Aomine.

Aomine yelped as he fell to the floor, pushing himself up just enough to look at Kuroko’s back in betrayal. “Oh come on, I’m not sorry _you_ were born, Tetsu!”

Kuroko walked faster.

“Tetsu…” Aomine whined, but before he knew it, Tetsu was out the door. He lay on the floor for a moment in frustration, then sighed and stood up, resigning himself to the fact that he was going to have to make up for this somehow (even though it was _totally stupid Eyebrows’ fault, dammit_ ).

* * *

After several text message apologies went unanswered, Aomine changed his tactics, leaving Touou’s basketball practice early one day to go to Seirin. He stopped by Maji Burger on the way to buy a milkshake, then waited outside the school’s gym for their practice to be over.

Kuroko walked out of the gym, spotted Aomine, and turned on his heel to walk back into the gym.

 _“Really?”_ Aomine muttered frustratedly, walking over to peer into the gym. “I have a vanilla milkshake!” he called, hoping it would bring Tetsu back.

Kuroko reluctantly looked over at Aomine before walking up to him and reaching for the shake.

Aomine didn’t immediately release the shake when Tetsu grabbed it. “Will you at least _talk_ to me?” he asked, looking at him imploringly.

“Aomine-kun, will you please give me the vanilla shake?” Kuroko replied.

“No, I—” Aomine sighed and rolled his eyes, but let go of the shake anyway. “I meant, have a conversation with me? So we can, you know, be okay?”

“Alright. When you properly apologize to Kagami-kun,” Kuroko replied, grabbing the shake and taking a sip before continuing. “We’ll be perfectly fine when you do that.”

“But Tetsu…” Aomine whined vaguely, practically pouting.

“No. No ‘but Tetsu’s allowed. You apologize to him. Without insulting him.”

Aomine’s gaze drifted across the gym, spotting Kagami just emerging from the locker room. He sighed, steeled his resolve, and shouted across the room, “Oi, Eyeb—” He paused and glanced at Tetsu before continuing. “—Kagami. Sorry I’m a giant fucking asshole and shit.” He looked at Tetsu again. “Good enough?”

“Kagami-kun, was it good enough for _you?”_ Kuroko asked, turning to face his friend.

Kagami had been rather taken aback when Aomine had first started talking, but was now wearing a smug grin. “The only way it could possibly be better is if he said it again so I could record it and send it to everyone we know.”

Aomine scowled. “You fuckin’—” Then he cut himself off, gritting his teeth and glaring angrily instead, since Tetsu was still watching.

“But it was good enough for you?” Kuroko inquired around the straw of his milkshake.

Kagami shrugged. “Play some one-on-one with me sometime and we can call it even, _Ahomine_ ,” he said, passing them to leave the gym. He sure as hell wasn’t interested in watching more of the weird hyperromantic side that Aomine only seemed to show around Kuroko.

“Bring it on,” Aomine called after him. He had much more he would have liked to add, but he wasn’t sure whether he was in the clear quite yet. He looked back at Tetsu. “Are we good _now?_ ”

Kuroko offered a tiny smile and nodded. “Yes. We’re good now.”

Any lingering irritation left Aomine’s face as he grinned, gaze transfixed on Tetsu’s face and wishing he could hold onto moments like this, stretch them out and make them last for hours instead of seconds. Unfortunately, he didn’t have that ability, so instead he stepped close to Tetsu and leaned down to kiss that smile, hoping that would be enough to make this moment stand out in his memory. And then he thought maybe he should do this every time, so he’d have a collection, and he could revisit the image of Tetsu’s smile just by remembering kisses.

Kuroko kissed back for a moment, before leaning back since they were still in the gym. “Would you like to go out tonight? We didn’t really get to finish our last date.”

Aomine paused and glanced over his shoulder in the direction Kagami had just gone, then turned back to Tetsu. “ _...Just_ you and me, right?”

Kuroko rolled his eyes at that. “Yes, Aomine-kun. Just you and me.”

Aomine smiled again. “Alright, sounds good.”

* * *

“I call Kuroko!” Kagami shouted the moment they got to the court… at the exact same time that Aomine shouted, “I call Tetsu!”, which started a loud argument.

“I wanna be on Kurokocchi’s team!” Kise whined, but was drowned out by the other two.

Kuroko stared between the three idiots fighting over who was going to play on his team, and reavaluated his life choices. “Please stop fighting,” he tried, unsure if they would actually hear him over their own shouting.

“I’m Kuroko’s partner, so I should play with him!” Kagami argued over Kuroko.

“I’m his _boyfriend,_ so _fuck you,_ that trumps literally everything!” Aomine replied.

“But I love Kurokocchi the mo—”

“SHUT UP, KISE!” Aomine and Kagami yelled, in sync once again, and turned back to each other with even fiercer scowls.

“Do I get a say in this?” Kuroko asked, raising a hand to try and get their attention.

Kise turned to him, giving up on trying to be a part of the argument. “Kurokocchi~ let me be on your team! ...I’ll buy you a milkshake!”

Kuroko looked at him impassively for a moment before shrugging. “Okay,” he said, turning back to his partner and boyfriend, walking over and getting between them to get their attention before placing a hand on each of their chests and shoving to try and get them to get out of each other’s faces before punches could be thrown.

“Oi, what the hell, Tetsu?” Aomine said with a frown.

Kise had the smuggest grin plastered on his face. “Kurokocchi decided he’s gonna be on my team, that’s what!”

“What?” Aomine looked at Tetsu, confused and slightly alarmed. _“Why?”_

Kagami just kept looking between Kuroko and Kise. He didn’t say anything, but the judgement was there, and it was very clear.

“He’s buying me a milkshake after this,” Kuroko replied, shrugging again.

“I buy you milkshakes almost _every day!_ ” Aomine protested.

“Yes, but Kise-kun is buying me one today. So he is on my team.”

None of Aomine’s subsequent protests managed to convince him of anything, and Kagami didn’t seem inclined to make an attempt, so they begrudgingly teamed up to play two-on-two against Kise and Kuroko.

“I could have made that shot if you had been guarding Kise instead of staring at Kuroko’s ass!” Kagami shouted about halfway through the game.

“Fuck off, Tetsu’s ass is worth giving up a couple of points,” Aomine said, giving said ass another appreciative glance.

“Aomine-kun, that’s not appropriate.” Kuroko turned so that he was facing Aomine fully, and thus Aomine couldn’t stare.

“Aw, Kurokocchi, don’t be afraid to use your assets to distract the opponent!” Kise said with a smile and a wink. “I find it’s a pretty reliable strategy most of the time.”

Kuroko rolled his eyes. “If that’s what I was doing it would go a bit more like this.” Kuroko walked up to Aomine and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, looking up at him through his lashes. “Daiki,” he whispered.

Aomine saw it coming from a million miles away. Tetsu had _announced_ it. But he still couldn’t help it when, the moment Tetsu began to walk towards him looking like that, Aomine only had eyes for him. Not to mention the way that it literally only took the simple combination of Tetsu’s proximity and the whispered use of his first name to make his mind go fuzzy and completely lose awareness of the game. He rested his hands on Tetsu’s waist and just looked down at him with a vague half-smile.

Meanwhile, Kise grabbed the ball and raced down the court with it, laughing as he scored another basket.

Kagami could feel his left eye twitching, and maybe he could understand why Akashi was so fucked up if he had to deal with these idiots together on a regular basis. Kagami wanted to hit something, and he didn’t even have the whole team there.

He walked over and picked Kuroko up from under his arms, ignoring Kuroko’s protest, and carrying him over to the other side of the court. “That’s cheating,” he accused, and then turned to Aomine. “And he _told you_ he was going to to it, and you still fell for it!”

Aomine shrugged. “Hey, it’s not my fault that my boyfriend is so irresistible. Try not to get so jealous, Eyebrows,” he said with a smirk.

Kagami rolled his eyes. “I’m not jealous. I want to win. And because you let your dick control you, Kuroko’s winning. You’re losing to _Kise.”_

“Well, it’s not so bad losing to Kise and Tetsu together. Tetsu can make even the dimmest idiot seem like a decent player. Example number one: you,” Aomine pointed out, sneering at Kagami.

“Aominecchi!!!!!” Kise whined. “Why do you have to be so mean? I wasn’t even part of this!”

Kagami just shrugged at Aomine. “I guess he learned how to do that from playing with you in middle school.”

Aomine narrowed his eyes. “Tetsu, I will buy you a milkshake _and_ a new book if you switch teams right now. I want to kick Eyebrows’ ass.”

Kuroko gave Aomine an unimpressed look. “I didn't think you would stoop to Kise-kun’s level of bribery, Aomine-kun. How disappointing.” He ignored Kise’s loud protest and simply looked annoyed when Kise started clinging to him and fake crying.

“Oi,” Aomine snapped in annoyance, partly because of Tetsu’s insult, and partly because of Kise getting all touchy-feely with his boyfriend. “Get the hell off him,” he said, storming over and pulling Kise back by the collar of his shirt.

“Can we keep playing, or should we call it a day since you two can’t seem to get over your ‘who's bigger’ contest?” Kuroko asked, arching an eyebrow at them.

Aomine opened his mouth to protest, but one look at Tetsu’s face told him that further argument would be futile. So instead, he went to fetch the ball, which Kise had dropped when he’d gone to cry on Tetsu, and passed it aggressively to Kagami. “Fine. I’ll kick your ass later, then.”

“You can try,” Kagami replied, catching the ball and dunking it into the basket.

Kise managed to catch the rebound and started back down the court with it, but Aomine intercepted him and stole the ball back to score another point. “No, I _will,_ ” he shouted, hurling the ball at the basket haphazardly, and smirking as it bounced off the backboard and then fell cleanly through the net.

“Fucking try me. I dare you,” Kagami challenged, glaring at Aomine. Kise took advantage of the distraction and grabbed the ball, passing it to Kuroko who used his phantom shot to score.

“Oh yeah?” Aomine said as he jumped up for the rebound, then began dribbling down the court with the ball. “You wanna go _right fuckin’ now?”_

“Sure. Not like you’ll win,” Kagami replied.

“Pffft, yeah alright, keep telling yourself that,” Aomine said, running towards him but then abruptly jumping up to take a fadeaway shot. “Then maybe one day you’ll beat me.” He smirked as he landed on the ground and watched the ball go into the basket.

“If you recall the Winter Cup, I already did,” Kagami retorted, going for the ball.

“We,” Kuroko corrected, but Kagami didn’t seem to hear him.

Aomine scowled. “For the first and last time in your entire life, asshole!” he said as he took up a defensive position right in front of Kagami.

Kuroko looked between them, at Aomine blocking his own teammate, and decided he was done. “Come on, Kise-kun,” he said, walking towards the exit of the court.

“Huh? Where are we going, Kurokocchi? Is this a date~” Kise asked loudly, happily following Kuroko.

 _That_ caught Aomine’s attention. He whipped around and spotted the other two leaving. “Oi, where’re you going?”

“Kise-kun owes me a milkshake,” Kuroko answered over his shoulder.

Aomine frowned. “What, so you’re just _leaving?”_ he protested, but started after them anyway.

“Yes,” Kuroko said flatly.

“Oh, come on, Kuroko!” Kagami called, chasing after them as well. “We weren’t _that_ bad,” he protested.

“Oh, so you _do_ recall the word we. That’s nice to know,” Kuroko replied impassively.

Kuroko’s cold words cowed Aomine and Kagami into acting relatively civilized on the way to Maji Burger. But another problem arose after they’d all gotten their food and went to sit down.

Aomine glared and grabbed Kagami’s arm when he saw him trying to claim the seat next to Tetsu. “What d’you think you’re doing, Eyebrows?”

“Sitting down. You got a problem, asshat?” Kagami replied, jerking his arm out of Aomine’s hand.

“Yeah. That’s _my_ seat,” Aomine replied, nodding at the place beside Tetsu.

Kagami glared. “Oh yeah? I don’t see your name on it.”

“Kagami-kun, please sit next to Kise-kun,” Kuroko said.

Aomine smirked at Kagami. “Told you so.”

“Huh? Kuroko—”

“I don’t want you two to start fighting like children again," Kuroko informed him, scooting over to make room for Aomine.

Aomine opened his mouth to complain, but sat down without a word instead, deciding that there wasn’t really much to complain about as long as he got to sit next to Tetsu.

The next few minutes passed in relative silence, since Kagami and Aomine were both busy stuffing their faces to say much of anything. The atmosphere seemed to become less tense the longer the quiet stretched on.

Kuroko sipped at his milkshake until there was no more and frowned down at the cup before Kagami offered to get him another one since he was at an end seat and could thus get it easier. Kuroko smiled and thanked him as Kagami got up.

Aomine turned to gaze at Tetsu’s smiling face, and tried to appreciate it, but found it difficult, since he was technically smiling at Kagami, not at him. “...Yeah, well, I’m buying the next one,” he muttered petulantly, unwrapping his next burger maybe a little more violently than necessary.

Kuroko didn’t think he would need or want a third milkshake, it would probably be too much, but he did briefly wonder why he’d even brought his wallet as Kagami came back and handed him the new milkshake, causing Kuroko to smile again as he happily started sipping at it.

Aomine was all but outright frowning now, and silently decided that he was going to make Tetsu smile more than Kagami did, no matter what.

Kuroko reached out his hand and poked Aomine’s cheek. “Stop frowning. You’ll get wrinkles.”

“Stop it,” Aomine muttered, but there was no bite to his voice, and when he pushed Tetsu’s hand down and away from his face, it was really only so he could lace their fingers together under the table.

“What do you mean, he’ll _get_ wrinkles?” Kagami said with a laugh. “He already has them!”

“At least my eyebrows are fucking _normal_ ,” Aomine said with a glare.

Kuroko sighed. “Why can’t you two just get along? You’re both very similar.”

“NO WE’RE NOT!” Aomine and Kagami snapped in perfect unison, then glared at each other some more.

“See, Kurokocchi, that’s _why_ they can’t get along. They’re basically the same person,” Kise commented.

Kuroko looked between them and then at Kise. “I think you may be right, Kise-kun.”

Aomine was offended to the point of speechlessness, but he calmed his irritation by gently squeezing Tetsu’s hand. “Yeah, well… I’m the one dating Tetsu, first of all. That’s the most important difference,” he said defiantly. After a moment, he added, “Also the eyebrows. And also I’m better at basketball.”

Kuroko leaned up and pecked Aomine on the cheek to pacify him. “You are dating me. So stop trying to fight with my friends.”

A small smile pulled at the corner of Aomine’s mouth, and he wasn’t quite able to fight it down as he turned to Tetsu and protested, “But they’re really fightable though.”

“I don’t care. He’s my friend. Stop picking fights,” Kuroko replied firmly.

Aomine wasn’t really inclined to fight with Tetsu about this again, especially when he just wanted to make him smile. But it was a little difficult to acquiesce out loud. “...I’ll try,” he muttered, making himself look Tetsu in the eye while he said it.

Kuroko smiled brightly at him when he said that, even though he wasn’t really expecting Aomine to try that hard.

And with that, it was all completely worth it. Aomine grinned and leaned down to give Tetsu a kiss that lasted just long enough to piss Kagami off, but just short enough not to piss Tetsu off… hopefully.

"You guys know you're in public, right? With people," Kagami said loudly, causing Kuroko to jump slightly and pull away with a blush.

"I don't mind," Kise volunteered.

"You wouldn't," Kagami replied, side-eyeing Kise, who had been watching Aomine and Kuroko with mild fascination.

Kise turned to him with a fake-hurt look and an over-dramatic pout. "What? You can't tell me you're not even a _little_ bit jealous!"

Aomine, who had been glaring at the two of them for their obnoxious comments, used Kise's moment of distraction to lean in and steal another kiss from Tetsu, this time just pecking him on one still-flushed cheek. Then, for good measure, he pressed another short kiss to Tetsu's jawline before backing off again, just smiling down at Tetsu and holding his hand and reminding himself that the pros of Tetsu's presence far outweighed the cons of Kagami and Kise's presence.

Kuroko tried to glare at Aomine for the kisses after they'd _just_ been reminded that they were in public, but there was no heat to the look.

Meanwhile, Kise and Kagami continued talking. "I'm definitely _not_ jealous," Kagami was saying, looking repulsed by the idea.

"Oh, come on. It'd make sense. Aominecchi is hot and Kurokocchi is adorable. I'd do it with either of them. Or both, but they keep saying no to that." Kise whined the last part, and Kuroko only felt mildly disgusted at this point.

"Kagami-kun isn't into sex," Kuroko told Kise before he could continue lamenting the tragedy that was his lack of a three way.

"Huh?" Kise looked at Kagami consideringly, Kagami looking mildly uncomfortable in the face of Kise's stare. "Yeah. That explains a lot," Kise decided before flashing a grin at Kagami. "So, I guess you really are Seirin's ace."

Kagami groaned at the pun. "Have you been hanging out with Izuki-senpai?"

It took Kise a moment to put a face to the name, but he did remember Izuki. “Well, he’s not bad, but if I had to choose a point guard, it’d probably be Kasamatsu-senpai.” He shrugged. “Although, I flirt with him _a lot_ and he still just hits me all the time, so I’m pretty sure he’s straight.”

Aomine snorted. “Or he’s just not interested. That’s pretty likely.”

 _“Rude,”_ Kise replied with a frown. “Have you seen me? Who _wouldn’t_ be interested?”

“Me, for one,” Aomine said, raising his hand briefly and snickering at the look on Kise’s face.

"Yeah, but you've got Kurokocchi!" Kise protested, pointing at them when he noticed Kuroko scoot a bit closer to Aomine.

“True,” Aomine conceded, smiling down at Tetsu.

Kise then turned to Kagami. "Come on, Kagamicchi! You'd be interested in me if you were into sex, right? I'm totally fuckable!" That earned the attention of about half the restaurant, and a wolf whistle from one occupant.

Kagami almost choked on the bite of burger he’d just taken. “W-what the _hell_ kind of question is that? And why would you ask _me?_ ”

“Because I know they’ll say no, and I don’t know anyone else here. So, you,” Kise explained as if it should have been obvious. “But, if you don’t wanna answer, I can just ask the restaurant at large. I mean, we might get kicked out if I did that though.”

“Yeah, no, don’t do that,” Kagami said, mildly alarmed. They’d attracted enough attention as it was.

“Please don’t, Kise-kun,” Kuroko chimed in.

Completely disregarding them, Kise stood up. "Come on, anyone? I'm fuckable, right?" he said loudly, holding his arms and gesturing at himself.

There was a loud gasp from across the restaurant, where a large table full of teenage girls were all hitting each other and pointing at him with excited whispers of, "Is that Kise Ryouta???"

Kise froze and waved perfunctorily with a smile plastered on his face. "Kagamicchi," he said with a quiet urgency, "don't make any sudden movements, but I need you to get up and walk out with me." The whispers were quickly turning to squeals as the girls began realizing that yes, it was Kise Ryouta.

"What? Why?" Kagami asked, brows furrowed as he looked up and Kise... and then followed his gaze to the gaggle of fangirls across the room. "Oh _hell_ no."

"Ready to go play some one-on-one, Kagamicchi?" Kise said loudly with a bright smile, putting a hand on Kagami's shoulder.

"Wh—no?" Kagami spluttered in protest. "I'm not gonna—"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Eyebrows," Aomine said, snickering. "Unless you want every 14-year-old girl in Tokyo waiting for you outside your apartment tonight."

Kagami blanched.

Kise was still smiling at him, but the hand on his shoulder was gripping just a little tighter than necessary.

"I hate all of you," Kagami said with angrily narrowed eyes. He balled up all of his empty burger wrappers, chucked them into the nearest trash can, and then stood up to follow Kise out.

The girls began rushing to gather their things so they could follow. Kise swore under his breath and increased their pace.

"Rest in fucking pieces, Eyebrows!" Aomine called after them, laughing as Kagami flipped him off briefly before disappearing out the door.

“I suppose I’m in the market for a new friend, since mine is about to be killed by preteens,” Kuroko mused from beside Aomine, watching the girls rush after Kise and Kagami.

"...Truly a tragedy," Aomine said, somehow managing to sound more ambivalent than sarcastic. He was still laughing a bit though. "I mean, better him than us, right?"

“They wouldn’t have noticed me. It would have just been you if Kise-kun had picked someone else,” Kuroko reminded him. “I would have stayed here and finished my shake.” He punctuated this by taking another sip.

"I dunno," Aomine mused. "I mean, all we'd have to do is draw attention to you. You're gorgeous; the fangirls would totally be all over you if they noticed you." Not that Aomine would even consider throwing Tetsu under the bus like that, partly because he didn't particularly _want_ to see a bunch of fanatic girls all over his boyfriend... and partly because Tetsu would most definitely kill him.

“It would be such a shame to see Aomine-kun die before he can become a professional basketball player,” Kuroko replied simply around the straw of his drink.

"...Yeah, sure would suck," Aomine said with a nervous laugh. "Good thing I was totally joking. About everything. Uh. Except for the part about you being gorgeous of course."

Kuroko continued to sip at his shake impassively, finding no reason to answer Aomine. He could suffer a bit.

"...Babe?" Aomine said after the first few seconds of silence. When Tetsu still didn't reply, he bowed his head to rest his forehead on Tetsu's shoulder. "Baaaaaabe, don't be like that," he whined softly so no one else would hear him being so pathetic.

"Like what?" Kuroko finally decided to speak up, taking pity on Aomine.

"All quiet and scary like you're trying to decide how you're gonna kill me," Aomine replied.

"No, I already know how I'd do it. Try not to find out."

Aomine hummed in thought for a moment, then sat up enough to be able to look at Tetsu, but still close enough that he could speak softly. “Well… I have a few ideas for ways to convince you not to kill me. But we should probably go somewhere else before I tell you about them,” he said, a smirk beginning to pull at his lips. “Wanna get outta here?”

Kuroko looked between the milkshake and Aomine, looking a bit torn. “Can I finish this first?” he asked after a moment, giving Aomine a pleading look to try and fend off any protest he might have about it.

Aomine didn’t last even half a second against Tetsu’s face. His smirk turned to a smile as he sighed in mock-exasperation. “I _guess_ so.”

Kuroko flashed him a bright smile at the agreement. “Thank you, Daiki.”

Aomine’s heart skipped a beat, and he almost forgot to kiss Tetsu’s smile… but that was okay, because regardless, he leaned in to kiss him for the use of his first name. He really liked the way it sounded in Tetsu’s voice. “You should call me that more often,” he said after pulling back to let Tetsu get back to his milkshake.

“It’s not as special when I do if you’re used to it. Right now, whenever I say it you kiss me," Kuroko replied, sipping at his milkshake.

“I mean, I’d kiss you for a lot of things. Anything, really,” Aomine said with a shrug, still smiling. “Like, that was really cute, what you said right there. So—” He kissed Tetsu again, for just a little longer this time.

“Yeah, but it’s different when I call you by first name,” Kuroko explained against Aomine’s lips. “It’s like . . . your eyes light up with happiness that I know I put there, and you act all excited, and then you kiss me, and it’s really nice.” There was a bit of a different reaction in bed, but that still generally involved Aomine’s mouth on him, so he didn’t think it interfered with his statement about Aomine always kissing him when he called him Daiki.

Aomine hummed consideringly, feeling a bit of a flush rise to his face, then pulled back a little to concede, “Well… I guess that’s alright then. As long as it makes you happy.”

“You being happy makes me happy,” Kuroko replied before turning his attention back to his milkshake because he’d shared quite enough feelings for one day.

Aomine knew Tetsu’s “conversation over” tone when he heard it, so he just sat there and waited for him to finish his milkshake, going back and forth between looking at him and staring out the window.

“I’m done,” Kuroko said when he got the last of his shake out of the cup, getting up and throwing it away.

“Alright, let’s go!” Aomine said, reaching for Tetsu’s hand and heading for the exit. “Your place or mine?”

Kuroko stumbled a bit when he was suddenly pulled. “Your place is closer,” he answered.

“Sounds good to me.” Aomine grinned and headed in the direction of his house.

* * *

Kuroko let Aomine drag him along to the movie theater to watch whatever action flick he wanted to see that was playing, but paused when he noticed Kise and Kagami, bringing Aomine to a stop as well as a result, and simply pointing at them when his boyfriend gave him a questioning look.

It took Aomine a few seconds to process what Tetsu was pointing at, but it only took a split second after that for his brain to do what he did best and jump to conclusions. “Haah? Are they… are they really…?” he said with wide eyes, looking between them and Tetsu. “Has Eyebrows said anything about this to you?”

Kuroko looked a little upset as he shook his head, wondering why Kagami hadn’t mentioned this to him before or after practice.

If Aomine hadn’t already been fully intending on confronting them, the look on Tetsu’s face would have convinced him to do so. “Oi, Kise!” Aomine called, approaching them. “I know you’re kinda desperate, but really? Eyebrows?”

“A-Aominecchi? Kurokocchi? What are you guys doing here?” Kise asked, looking between them.

Aomine raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m on a date, duh. And judging by Eyebrows’ face, so are you,” he said with a smirk.

Kagami could feel that his face was, in fact, very red, and he kind of wanted to sink through the floor and disappear, but he tried valiantly to cover up his embarrassment with anger. “It’s none of your business, asshole. Go away,” he snapped.

“Hey, hey, no need for the attitude, Eyebrows,” Aomine said, fighting back laughter. “I’m just kinda curious though, what brought this on? Was running from Kise’s fangirls together really such a profound bonding experience?”

“Aominecchi, don’t be mean to Taigacchi,” Kise complained, unembarrassedly putting an arm around Kagami’s waist.

“Kagami-kun, why didn’t you mention this to me?” Kuroko piped up quietly from beside Aomine.  

Kagami didn’t pull away from Kise’s arm, but he did manage to turn an even deeper shade of red, a surly expression fixed on his face even as he stumbled through a reply to Kuroko. “I—uh—you didn’t—um. It… never came up?”

“I asked what you were doing today when I told you about my date with Aomine-kun,” Kuroko reminded him, shoulders slumping.

Aomine draped an arm over Tetsu’s shoulders protectively and scowled at Kagami. “What’s your problem, asshole? It’s one thing to keep your weird-ass relationship on the down-low, but _lying to Tetsu?_ That’s not okay.”

Kagami scowled right back. He would have told Kuroko about it _eventually,_ but this whole… _thing_ with Kise had happened so suddenly, and he’d wanted a little more time to figure it out before talking about it to other people. Running into Kuroko and Aomine and having them just find out about it randomly was not what he’d wanted—he felt frustrated and uncomfortable, like he’d been backed into a corner. So he wasn’t really in a state of mind to realize that it was a bad idea to retaliate with, “Oh, so _you’re_ gonna lecture _me_ on how to treat Kuroko?”

Kuroko and Kise’s eyes widened at that, and Kise laughed nervously as he suggested that they just go watch their movie and maybe talk later while Kuroko put a hand on Aomine’s chest as he noticed him move forward marginally.

Aomine was used to Kagami pissing him off, but this… this was different. It made him very suddenly remember a lot of things he didn’t like to think about, and simultaneously filled him with deep-seated guilt and a dark rage. He took a step forward. “Yeah. Yeah, I am. _No one’s_ gonna treat Tetsu like shit while I’m here. That includes _me_. And _you_.”

Kuroko tugged on Aomine’s shirt sleeve to try and get his attention, frowning up at him, because he certainly wasn’t going to try to talk over Aomine when he was angry.

The small movement drew Aomine’s gaze to Tetsu, and he paused.

“You’re causing a scene. Please stop.”

Aomine was still enraged, but he looked at Tetsu for a while and tried to calm down.

“I’m sure Taigacchi didn’t mean to be mean to Kurokocchi, if that helps,” Kise piped up.

“I don’t give a shit what he meant to do, he was still an asshole,” Aomine said to Kise. Then he turned to Kagami. “You’d better fuckin’ apologize to Tetsu. Or else.”

“Aomine-kun. Stop. It’s fine. If Kagami-kun doesn’t trust me enough to talk about these kinds of things, that’s his choice,” Kuroko told him, either not caring or not noticing Kagami go a bit pale at the last part.

Kise leaned over to Kagami, whispering, “Ohh~ Sounds like you’re in trouble~”

He was right, but Kagami elbowed him anyway. “Shut up,” he muttered, only glancing at him briefly before looking back to Kuroko. “Look, I’m sorry, alright? But can we talk about this later, when there _aren’t_ a million people around?”

“Depends,” Aomine said before Tetsu could respond, “do I get to be there so I can punch you in the face for being an asshole?”

“Daiki!” Kuroko said warningly.

Aomine froze.

“Ohhhh~ Aominecchi’s in trouble too!” Kise singsonged. He seemed to be having the time of his life watching all of this play out.

Aomine shot Kise a brief glare, very much wanting to punch him in the face as well, but turning back to Tetsu instead. “Alright, I won’t punch him. Okay?”

“Apologize for threatening to,” Kuroko replied. “Kagami-kun, apologize for encouraging him to punch you. And Kise-kun, you were rude to them, so you too.”

“Kurokocchiiiiiiiiii!” Kise whined, but shut his mouth tight when Kuroko directed a glance at him.

Aomine took the brief moment of silence that followed to get his apology over with. “Sorry. I promise I won’t actually punch you in the face… but only because Tetsu still likes having you as a friend, for whatever reason.”

Kagami bristled at that last part, but forced himself not to respond to it, instead crossing his arm and saying “sorry” through gritted teeth.

“Sorry, Taigacchi. Sorry Aominecchi. I shouldn’t have commented on you being in trouble. I should have just silently watched. And probably not have laughed at you."

They were all really bad apologies, but Kuroko decided he would take them, because he didn't want to miss the movie or start another fight.

Unfortunately, the testing of everyone’s patience didn’t end there. After they’d all gotten snacks, they came to the realization that they were all going to the same movie. And then when they walked into the actual theater, Kagami and Aomine shooting each other nasty looks the whole way (...at least, whenever they thought Kuroko wasn’t looking), they found it to be very full… except for four adjacent seats in the second row.

“If we hadn’t wasted time arguing, we could have had better seats,” Kuroko commented, picking the middle seats.

Aomine sat down on the end near Tetsu, not even a little bit interested in being next to either Kise or Kagami. “Well, it’s not terrible. I mean, we could be those guys,” he said, gesturing towards the people in the first row in front of them.

“We also could have sat in a decent seating area,” Kuroko replied, craning his neck to look up at the screen.

“Hey, I’m just looking on the bright side of things,” Aomine said with a shrug. “Like, I mean… if this really ruins the movie for us, we can download it later and rewatch it at home, where there’s a bed. And blankets and pillows. And free popcorn. And a pause button, in case we get distracted.” A half-smirk, half-smile crept onto his face as he looked down at Tetsu.

Sure, Aomine said that now, but when Kuroko had gotten bored with Die Hard one night and tried to give Aomine a blowjob Aomine did not pause that movie. He’d kept watching. He didn’t get a finished blowjob that night.

Meanwhile, Kagami was initially going to sit next to Kuroko, since Kuroko usually preferred to have at least one human shield between himself and Kise at all times. But before he knew it, Kise was just _there._ So he just sighed and reluctantly took the next next to him.

Kuroko shot him a betrayed look, but turned back to the movie as it started. About halfway through sitting so close to the screen started giving him a headache, and he wasn’t really interested enough in the movie to stick it out, so he told Aomine he was waiting for him in the lobby, and walked out.

Aomine looked up at the screen consideringly, then checked the time on his phone, and upon figuring that there was at least an hour left of the movie, decided that was far too long to leave Tetsu waiting out there by himself. He got up and left without a word or glance towards the other two, stopping to buy a small can of Pocari from a vending machine before heading towards the lobby. He found Tetsu sitting on a bench, sat down next to him, and offered him the drink. “Hey,” he said quietly. “You okay?”

Kuroko nodded a little. “Yes. I just got a headache. You could have finished the movie. I would be fine waiting for you.” He smiled a little as he took the drink, mumbling a small ‘thank you’ before opening it and taking a sip.

“Eh. I think the date part is more important the the movie part, yeah? We can do something else. Or go home,” Aomine suggested.

“I think I want to go home where I can get some aspirin,” Kuroko decided after a moment of thought.

“Sounds good to me,” Aomine said, getting up and holding a hand out to Tetsu, partly to help him up and partly just to hold his hand.

Kuroko gave him a small smile and took the hand, getting to his feet.

Aomine happily leaned down to claim Tetsu’s smile with a soft but lingering kiss.

* * *

A few days later, they had their make-up movie night at Kuroko’s house. And since his parents weren’t home, they decided to make it a little more interesting by raiding the liquor cabinet.

“Okay. So,” Aomine said as he grabbed two shot glasses. “Every time there’s an explosion, boobs, ass, or a car crash, we take a shot. Also,” he added, _“you_ have to take a shot every time you think about how much you’d rather be doing something besides watching this movie. Because otherwise, you won’t get as drunk as me.”

“I still won’t, but okay,” Kuroko agreed, pouring two shots of tequila before pressing play on the movie.

One extremely action-packed exposition scene later, Aomine had already had seven shots within the span of fifteen minutes, and he was beginning to feel warm and pleasantly light-headed. Around the half-hour point, he leaned over and rested his head in Tetsu’s lap, only half paying attention to the movie while reaching a hand up to poke Tetsu’s cheek and mess with his hair.

“Stop that.” Kuroko laughed and batted Aomine’s hand away.

Aomine gave him one more poke for good measure and then turned his attention to the TV... just in time to see a female character introduced by a full-screen shot of her chest. He sighed at the prospect of getting up to take a shot, but propped himself up on one elbow anyway, still lying over Tetsu's lap as he reached for his shot glass. And then he realized he now lacked a free hand to actually pour the shot. So, he looked up at Tetsu, holding out his empty glass. "Baaaaabe... help...?"

“I think if you can’t pour your shot, you’ve probably had enough of them,” Kuroko told him, taking his own shot before leaning down to peck Aomine on the cheek.

“I totally could!” Aomine objected. “I just don’t feel like getting up. You’re comfy.”

“And you’re already heading towards drunk,” Kuroko replied.

“Yeeaahhhh but not _yet_.” Aomine held up his shot glass higher, almost shoving it in Tetsu’s face, and looked up at him with a pleading expression.

Kuroko rolled his eyes and had to take another shot of his own for wishing that he didn’t have to deal with this before pouring Aomine’s for him.

Aomine barely tasted the shot as he threw it back, and the small bit of sense he had left told him that was probably also a sign that he should stop, but he shrugged off the thought. He made a valiant effort to pay attention to the movie some more, but within ten minutes he was distracted by Tetsu. Nothing that Tetsu did, in particular, just... his existence. Aomine rolled over to face him and poked him lightly in the stomach. "Tetsuuuuu..."

Kuroko let out a small squeak when Aomine poked his stomach. “Yes, Aomine-kun?” he asked after a moment to recompose himself.

Aomine just grinned up at him. “...Hi.”

Kuroko smiled down at him fondly. "Hello."

It took Aomine a moment before he realized, "Oh! Hey, hey! You're smiling! I gotta kiss you now!" Then, despite his earlier reluctance to get up, Aomine pushed himself up just enough to kiss Tetsu... though he may have cheated a bit by putting a hand behind his neck and pulling him down just a little.

Kuroko gave Aomine a look that was equal part amusement and confusion. "What are you talking about? You kiss me all the time, regardless of whether I'm smiling or not."

"Well _yeah_... but you don't smile that much," Aomine said, then laughed a little. "And I'm, like, dumb, ya know? So I need _some_ way to remember every time you do! So..." And he leaned up to kiss Tetsu again. "...Like that."

Kuroko laughed and rolled his eyes. "Should I be kissing you when you smile too then?" he teased, leaning down to press a quick kiss to Aomine's lips.

Aomine grinned. "Hey, why not? But then I might never stop smiling," he warned.

"I like your smile. It's bright. Like stars," Kuroko replied happily.

"Heyyy!" Aomine said, pointing at Tetsu and accidentally poking him in the face again. ...Well, the first one was an accident. The next five were not. "You're definitely drunk...ish, you're already talkin' 'bout space!"

Kuroko frowned at him. "I'm only tipsy. I was also just complimenting your smile."

"Okay, thank you—" Aomine reached over to grab the bottle and deposited it in Tetsu's lap, next to himself. "—but also, have some more shots, and also—" With his index finger on each hand, he pushed the corners of Tetsu's lips up into a smile shape. "—the stars are—they're not—they, uh... they got nothin' on you!"

Kuroko laughed and pushed Aomine's hands away. "Thank you. Why do I have to have more shots though?"

"It's only fair," Aomine replied matter-of-factly.

"I don't see how," Kuroko argued.

"Yeah, well... I don't see how you don't see how," Aomine replied in a mocking tone.

"That's because you're halfway to wasted," Kuroko told him.

Aomine opened his mouth to object, but then a brief wave of dizziness hit him. "Haaa... truuuue," he said as he lay back down again with a dumb grin on his face.

Kuroko took pity on him and picked up the bottle to drink straight from it. "Happy?" he asked after a several gulps, waiting for it to hit him.

“Very.” Satisfied, Aomine turned his head to briefly check on the movie, not really sure what was going on anymore, but vaguely entertained by the action scenes.

After a few minutes, Kuroko sat up with wide eyes and a bright smile. “Daiki! Did you know that Jupiter has four rings?” he asked excitedly.

 _Duh, doesn’t everyone know that???_ Aomine raised his eyebrows and faked a surprised tone. “Whaaat? No way, I had no idea!” A smirk started edging its way onto his face, even though he tried to fight it down. “It’s not— _pffft_ —it’s not obvious at _all!_ ”

Kuroko brightened when Aomine seemed surprised and then his shoulders slumped and he looked down sadly when he realized Aomine was making fun of him. “I thought it was cool. I didn’t know that about Jupiter until recently,” he mumbled.

Aomine was confused and a little alarmed at how upset Tetsu seemed to be. “Hey, wait, no—I mean—” Then a sudden realization came to him. “ _Jupiter!_ We were talking about _Jupiter_. Okay, alright, _I_ thought we were talking about that other one. You know? That one, with the rings.” He gestured vaguely in the air as he tried to recall the name.

“Saturn?” Kuroko asked, still looking down sadly.

“Yeeaahhhhh that’s the one!” Aomine said, grinning up at him for a moment, but when Tetsu still looked unhappy, he faltered.

“I was excited, and you were mean to me,” Kuroko said quietly.

“Well—I mean—I didn’t—you—” Aomine stuttered, feeling more and more guilty the longer he looked at Tetsu. Eventually he gave up on trying to reason his way out (not that that had been going well, thanks to the alcohol), and just covered his face with his hands and exclaimed, “AHHHH I’m such a piece of shit, Tetsu!” A little softer, he added, “Tetsu… I’m sorryyyy…”

Kuroko laid down on the couch, curling into a ball facing away from Aomine. “I thought it was interesting.”

"Me too, me too!" Aomine insisted. "I'm just dumb! You know this. You—you _knoowww_ it." He reached out to poke Tetsu a few times and shake his shoulder. "Baaaaaaaabe........."

Kuroko curled into a tighter ball, sniffling a bit and closing his eyes to block out Aomine.

Aomine's heart sank. "N—nooo Tetsu, don't—are you—don't cry!" Since there wasn't much he could do from his current position with Tetsu curled up so tightly, he attempted to get up... and ended up half-rolling, half-falling off of the couch. But that didn't bother him through the numbing haze of drunkenness. He crawled over to the side of the couch on which Tetsu was lying. "Tetsu..." he whined softly, stroking his hair and pressing a light kiss to the back of his neck.

Kuroko wanted to ignore him and stay upset, but found himself slowly relaxing as Aomine stroked his hair.

This approach seemed to be working, so Aomine continued, smiling in relief. "Hey, hey... you know—you—um. I love you, like, a lot, you know?" He kissed Tetsu's neck a few more times. "You know that?"

Kuroko finally gave in, turning around to face Aomine and wrapping his arms around him. “I love you too,” he replied. Then he perked up a bit more. “Do you want to know something else about Jupiter?”

"Abso-fuckin-lutely do," Aomine replied firmly.

"Did you know that Jupiter has at least sixty-seven known moons?" Kuroko asked, starting to regain some of his former excitement.

Aomine's eyes widened, then he furrowed his brow in confusion. "Sixty-seven??? What does it need sixty-seven moons for? That's like, a fuckton of moons, holy shit."

"They make Jupiter feel important," Kuroko said, nodding like he was confirming his own words. "It's also bigger than Earth, so I guess it needs more moons."

Aomine hummed in consideration. "Well, I think that giant asshole should give us some of its moons. Because... 'cause we're pretty damn cool, I think."

"Our moon controls the tides in the ocean. I think having another one would be damaging to our environment," Kuroko mused.

"Yeah, but like... imagine...  how _super fuckin' sick_ it would look," Aomine countered.

"But what would we do with so many moons? Do we have to put flags on all of them too? The Americans did that to ours and the other moons might feel left out."

Aomine scoffed. “Well, let the Americans take care of that then. It can be their problem. I just think more moons would be… like… really cool… and stuff…” As he spoke, he got more and more distracted by Tetsu’s face, and began to not really pay attention to what he was saying. “...So pretty…”

"The moon is pretty," Kuroko agreed with a small smile.

“Nooo, _you._ ” Aomine laughed just a little before leaning in for a kiss. “You and your smile,” he said against Tetsu’s lips, followed by a hum of contentment.

Kuroko blushed and kissed Aomine on the cheek before ducking his head to hide the blush.

“Awww, don’t hide, Tetsu,” Aomine said, laughing some more at how cute Tetsu was being. Since he couldn’t currently reach Tetsu’s face, he grabbed one of his hands and pressed a kiss to each of his fingertips.

"Not hiding," Kuroko mumbled, face heating up even more.

“Yyyyyyes you are~ But don’t worry, I’ll help you unhide,” Aomine said as he kissed the inside of Tetsu’s wrist, and then began trailing kisses up his arm.

"Nooo. I'm not hiding," Kuroko protested, wondering if unhide was even a word.

“Mmhm…” Aomine agreed sarcastically, and with a smirk, slid a hand under Tetsu’s shirt to rest it on his waist, and then said softly, “...Do I have to tickle you?”

Kuroko's eyes widened and he almost fell off the couch trying to get away from Aomine. "Nonononono!" He held his hands out to try to keep Aomine at a distance.

Aomine followed him as he backed away, getting back onto the couch and sitting on his legs to keep him from escaping. He leaned forward until Tetsu’s hands stopped him, but since his arms were longer, he managed to poke at Tetsu’s sides and stomach a few times even from that far away. “Hah! Can’t stop me!” he said with a triumphant grin.

Kuroko couldn't help the giggles that escaped him when Aomine started poking him and he struggled uselessly under him. "Dai-Daiki! Stop it!"

Aomine did not stop. He pushed a little harder against Tetsu’s hands to get closer and properly tickle him.

Tetsu laughed harder until there were tears in his eyes. “Daiki!” he shouted as the tears fell down his face.

That’s when Aomine decided to have mercy on him. He stopped tickling Tetsu, instead gently pushing his arms aside to reach forward and wipe at his tears, one hand on each side of his face. “I can see your face now,” he said with a smile.

“No, don’t look at it, it’s got watery salt on it,” Kuroko complained.

Aomine shook his head. “Tha’s… tha’s okay!!! That is so fine. I can fix. See?” he said, continuing to wipe at the tears. His words were getting a little more slurred as the alcohol began to make him feel drowsy.

“You look sleepy,” Kuroko said, reaching up to poke Aomine’s face.

“Oh yeah? Well… well… _you_ look comfy,” Aomine replied, resting his head on Tetsu’s chest and lying down on top of him. “I’m sleeping here.”

“Nooooo! You’re heavy!” Kuroko whined.

“Hmmmmmm okay how about…” Aomine shifted over to the side just slightly so that he was only half-lying on Tetsu, wrapping an arm around his waist. His head settled at the perfect spot on Tetsu’s shoulder so he could just lean forward a little to kiss his neck. “...this?”

“Okay,” Kuroko agreed, closing his eyes to go to sleep as well.

Aomine went to sleep feeling great about life…

...and woke up feeling like death.

He tried to focus on how nice and warm and soft it was to lie on the couch with Tetsu, because otherwise all he could think about was the ungodly pounding in his head and the vague nauseous feeling in his stomach. He tried to open his eyes but immediately closed them again with a pained groan—everything was way too bright.

Kuroko woke up when he heard Aomine making noise, and regretted it immediately. “I’ll turn off the lights if you make coffee,” he offered.

It took a few seconds for Aomine to turn his unintelligible mumbling into words. “Deal,” he finally said. Then he rolled off of Tetsu as best as he could and added, “You first.”

“No. You first,” Kuroko argued, trying to shift to block out the light and falling off the couch instead. He didn’t try to get up. He just lay on the floor making small sounds of pain.

In other circumstances, Aomine might have spared a moment to ask if he was alright. But not this morning. “That’s what you get,” he said, voice slightly muffled, as he’d rolled back over to lie on his stomach, face buried in the couch cushion.

“I don’t want to date you any more. You’re mean to me when I’m hungover.”

“I think breaking up with someone when they’re hungover is pretty fuckin’ mean,” Aomine grumbled, still not making any attempt to get up.

“And yet you don’t move. This is why you’re single.” Not like this didn’t happen every time they were hungover together. The first time Aomine had freaked out, thinking that Kuroko was actually breaking up with him—now it was almost routine.      

“Well if I’m single and you’re not turning off the lights, get out of my house,” Aomine said grumpily, but with no bite to his words.

“This is _my_ house,” Kuroko reminded him. “You get out if you’re not making coffee.”

“What???” Aomine said, showing the first signs of actually being awake as he lifted his head to confirm that they were, in fact, at Tetsu’s house. After squinting around for a bit and taking a moment to process this information, he hummed consideringly. “...Well, if you’re kicking me out for good, I guess I’d better go upstairs and take all of my shirts back…”

Kuroko rocketed to his feet . . . and regretted it immediately. “Oh god . . . oh my god I hate you.” He wasn’t sure if he wanted to clutch his stomach or his head, and he was pretty sure all the color had just drained from his face.

Aomine snorted. “Love you too, babe.” Then, following Tetsu’s example of what not to do, he slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position, feet on the floor but not quite ready to try standing yet.

Kuroko let himself fall into Aomine’s lap, resting his pounding head on Aomine’s shoulder. “I blame you. I’m sure you had something to do with how much I drank last night, so I blame you.”

Aomine nodded as he loosely wrapped his arms around Tetsu. “Fair,” he conceded.

"Did we even finish the movie or did you illegally download things on my computer for nothing?" he asked, not moving even a little bit to turn off the lights because Aomine was surprisingly comfortable and he was pretty sure he would puke if he stood up at the moment.

"Well, uh... we were definitely here for the end. Maybe not, you know, _consciously_ , but I mean, we were present for the whole thing. That's an improvement from last time," Aomine reasoned, smirking a little. Absentmindedly, he began to gently rub Tetsu's back.

"I'm not sure that counts for anything, but I'm not watching it again," he replied.

"Wasn't that good anyway," Aomine agreed. After a moment of silence, he sighed. "Wanna go make coffee now?"

"I thought _you_ were in charge of making coffee," Kuroko mumbled.

"Well, I'll do all the work. All you have to do is sit there and look cute." Aomine turned his head to place a soft kiss just under Tetsu's ear. "Sound good?" he said quietly.

"Okay. I can do that," Kuroko agreed, looking up at Aomine through his lashes with a tiny smile to prove his point.

Aomine leaned down and kissed him to collect the memory of that smile, and then smiled back. “Perfect.” He forgot about his headache for the moment as he felt a rush of affection for Tetsu and his sleepy face and his dumb bedhead and the comfort of his warm weight that made Aomine very reluctant to get up.  

"Oh! I'm supposed to kiss you when you smile! That's how that thing you were doing works, right?" Kuroko asked, leaning up and pecking Aomine on the lips.

Aomine was surprised, but pleasantly so. He felt his face heat up just a little as, all at once, he remembered the cute stuff Tetsu had said about his smile last night. “Uh—yeah, yep, that’s how ya do it,” he said, laughing a little.

"I could get used to that. I like your smile and I like kissing you, so I think I like your collecting smiles game," Kuroko said, leaning his head back on Aomine's shoulder.

“Can’t argue with you there,” Aomine said, reaching a hand up to stroke Tetsu’s hair and thinking that maybe the coffee could be put off for just a little longer… except his headache was coming back, and he needed caffeine. “Alright, to the kitchen we go.” And with no further prelude, he stood up still holding Tetsu, and began carrying him out of the room.

Under any other circumstances Kuroko would have complained about being carried, but, tired and hungover, the last thing he wanted to do was move on his own, so he snuggled closer to Aomine and let himself be carried.

When they got to the kitchen, Aomine set Tetsu down on the countertop right next to the coffee maker. Then he searched his cabinets for the darkest coffee he could find, and practically shoveled it into the machine. “We might have some instant espresso somewhere too…” he said, trailing off as he emptied half a cabinet onto the counter before finally pulling out a jar of the stuff. He handed it triumphantly to Tetsu. “There you go. A metric fuckton of caffeine… to add to our other metric fuckton of caffeine.” He gestured to the coffee currently brewing.

Kuroko wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with it since there was already stuff in the coffee maker, but took it anyway, eyes flickering between Aomine and the coffee maker. "I don't think that's a proper unit of measurement, Aomine-kun."

“It’s a lot more accurate that any ‘proper units’ of measurement when it comes to how much coffee you drink,” Aomine pointed out.

"You're not allowed to judge. I'm hungover. I can have as much coffee as I want."

Aomine rolled his eyes affectionately and they waited in relative silence for the coffee to finish brewing. When it did, Aomine grabbed the two largest mugs he could find, filled them almost to the brim, added a spoonful of instant espresso to each, then just dumped a whole bunch of sugar into Tetsu’s and stirred that in before handing it to him.

"Thank you, Aomine-kun." Kuroko blew on it a few times before deeming it safe enough and starting to down the drink.

Aomine took a few sips of the coffee while it was still black to wake himself up a bit more, but added milk and a little sugar before he continued to drink. Silence settled upon them once again, and as the caffeine kick-started his higher brain functions, Aomine’s thoughts wandered a bit. “I wish we could do this every morning,” he said, then paused for a second and corrected himself. “Uhh—without the hangovers. Most of the time. But yeah, this—” He gestured vaguely between them. “—this is nice.”

"It is," Kuroko agreed. "Although, I'm not sure either of our parents want to house another teenage boy, so I don't see that happening. Maybe when we graduate high school. We're supposed to be starting college applications soon. If we got into the same one we could potentially live together," he mused.

As Tetsu spoke, Aomine began picturing it—all the exciting possibilities for the (increasingly near) future—and he couldn’t stop a giant grin from growing on his face. “I would really, really love that.”

"Me too." And then he leaned forward to kiss Aomine, 'collecting' the smile on his face even as one formed on his own.

**Author's Note:**

> So, the part where Kuroko was telling him about Jupiter's rings was taken directly from a conversation with me and Maddie, because I was looking up space facts for this scene and I got excited about that one, and she thought we were talking about Saturn, and I didn't realize she was being sarcastic in her surprise until she laughed and said it was super obvious. Some of those lines are exact quotes of what we said.


End file.
